'Tis the season

I have always really loved the holiday season. It is beautiful, magical, sincere, heart-warming, full of cute coats, snazzy scarves, and of course tons of boots, apple cider, eggnog, cookies galore, people are nicer, the music is better ... all things good! The past few weeks, though, I have been thinking... and I am pretty sure that I love it even more now, as an adult, than I did when I was younger! Who woulda thought?

When I was little, Thanksgiving meant no school and delicious food. Nothing wrong with that, right? Then when I went away to college, Thanksgiving meant that the semester was almost over. It was the beginning of the light at the end of the tunnel. It meant that for the next several months the only ground to be seen would most definitely be snow-covered (for, by November there is just no melting away in Rexburg!). And most importantly it meant going home to see my family. Last year, I was pregnant... Food. Thanksgiving meant food. And sleeping in. (I hope that this is not misleading. I am not really so shallow as to let the true meaning of the season escape me. I have always sincerely loved that there is a whole day devoted to family and being grateful for all our countless blessings)

Nowadays, I am in not in school, I work full time as a mama (which basically means I have the best job ever!), there is no snow, and I see my family pretty regularly.

This year, I have been so in love with the season and I think I know why. I was a kid with no money, I was a poor college student, I was working and pregnant... Now I LOVE being able to really contribute and show my love for my family and friends by giving of my time and talents! I tell you what, its just beautiful. Simply, purely beautiful.

I loved cooking for Thanksgiving and I am already looking forward to what I will be making for Christmas dinner. I am so excited about the gifts I am making for Christmas I could almost pee my pants!... Yesterday I got pretty much all of our Christmas shopping done, and thanks to Pinterest I am going to spend the next few weeks completing the wonderful things I have planned for my family. Its all very hush hush, sneaky peeky right now, but after Christmas I will show all you folks my charming creations!

Basically I am just so thoroughly pleased with the time of year. I am incredibly blessed. I love you people and I am grateful that I get to share the good, the sometimes not so good, the funny and the real with you! Happy Friday friends!

Oh. p.s. We took some Christmas pictures of little man (its his first one afterall!!!). Oh boy. Words cannot express. So I will show you. I want to do some editing so this is just a tiny sneak peek!

Five Months

Its that time again! My darling, little cutie pie is another month older!!! So, naturally I'm going to tell you all about it...

First of all, (I am not going to take the time to look, but I am fairly certain that the majority of my monthly baby updates begin this way...) I CAN'T BELIEVE IT'S BEEN FIVE MONTHS!!! (...And really can you blame me? Basically, I am in awe of the whole thing. I grew a human. Pregnancy in and of itself should pretty much just be impossible, but of course Heavenly Father is smarter than me and obviously made it work. So then, this tiny, little--or in my case tiny and little to me, but not so much speaking comparatively-- baby comes out and grows at the speed of light. Learning new things by the second, growing and discovering. Time seems to stop and race on too fast all at the same time. I have a baby. And he is now five months old... Two words: Woah. Nelly.)

And what has my baby *BFG been up to?

One of my favorite things these days is watching him grab things. He loves grabbing anything and everything, and seeing him use his hands so well and with so much coordination just makes me smile. I love the look of concentration on his face!

He is fascinated by colors and loves it when I have designs or writing on my shirts. He stares, completely mesmerized.

He loves to stand... but his true love is jumping! Like a little kangaroo, this one!

He rolls over all the time now. When he first learned to roll over, just before 3 months, he rolled from his back to his front. A few weeks ago I witnessed, for the first time, him rolling from his tummy to his back. The kiddo moves around in his bed so much and ends up in places and positions completely different than when I lay him down. So it wouldn't surprise me if he has been rolling over both ways for quite some time!

Because he is such a rolly polly, he spends a lot more time playing on his tummy. But now that it is by choice he doesn't seem to despise tummy time quite so much. In fact, he really enjoys it! He wiggles around and loves going after his toys. He does little mini push-ups and then when he gets a little worn out he lays his head down and sucks his thumb. Cutest thing in the world.

He loves singing and dancing as much as ever! Lately we have been rocking out to Christmas music... Ryan is not such a fan of Christmas music, so I am starting young with Kylan!

When it is too early for bedtime, but too late for a nap and Goofy Gus becomes more of a Grumpy Gus, one of our favorite things to do is play in the sink. We fill it up with some warm water, and I sit him on the side and .... Splash! Kick! Jump! Giggle! ... He loves it... Sure he, the kitchen, and I all become quite the soggy mess, but it is definitely worth it!

We are working on sitting up. So far he can manage a few seconds before he slumps over, but he gets stronger and stronger everyday.

I love getting to know this sweet boy. I love learning about his personality and watching him discover. I find it difficult to accept that next month he will be half a year old. Ohhhh the craziness of that fact. But then again it shall be our first Christmas as a family of three! I think that shall soften the blow considerably!

*BFG... Big Friendly Giant, a delightful character and children's novel, written by Roald Dahl. Do ya get it?? Eh? I am real clever huh? :) Oh how I love my giant baby. He is just the right size and perfect for me. Not so much for his carseat though. Those days are numbered. Luckily I ordered a new carseat from Amazon just the other night! Excited for it to get here! Well... Good day mate!

Halloween!

I know its a little late, but I still feel the need to document this lovely, not so spooky, Halloween!

This was Kylan's first Halloween... obviously! :) And it was so fun. We went to a Trunk or Treat in Ava on Saturday (October 27th, which happens to be Nay Nay and Spencer's birthday!) and then on the actual day of Halloween we went trick or treating in Ozark and to my ward's Trunk or Treat... no offense my Ava peeps, but my ward's Trunk or Treat kicked your Trunk or Treat's butt.

I had so many big plans for costumes this year. Seriously. It was going to be a family affair and an epic one at that! Unfortunately I am the queen of procrastination. So none of my plans actually panned out. But don't you worry! I am making it happen next year!!!

As it was, we found a nice little infant costume at Target, which almost did not fit him... or ya know, depending on who you ask you could just skip the "almost"... but only because kiddo is a giant! Nonetheless, he was the most adorable pea pod ever.

The little nieces were tutu ghosts and totally rocked it.

At one point I called Nay Shay a little monster (because, really that girl is fierce when you stand between her and her candy) to which Bella replied "She's not a little monster! She's a little ghost!!!"

Anyway, here are some delightful pictures! Enjoy. And once again, I know its late, but I hope you all had a safe and happy Halloween!